News

Haney: No to Flying Solo beyond New START

7/31/2013

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Adm. Cecil Haney, President
Obama's nominee to lead US Strategic Command, said on Tuesday he'd oppose the
United States making unilateral reductions in the size of its strategic nuclear
arsenal beyond New START levels. "I think it's very important that any further
reductions are negotiated," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee
during his July 30 confirmation hearing."My
advice would be that we negotiate a bilateral agreement [with Russia] that also
has verifiable components," said Haney, who is currently commander of US
Pacific Fleet. Haney said he supports New START since it provides for "the
adequate numbers of nuclear weapons and launchers to address the threats now
and into the future." That treaty requires the United States and Russia to
reduce their respective strategic nuclear forces to no more than 1,550 deployed
warheads, 700 deployed launchers (i.e. heavy bombers, ICBMs, and
submarine-launched ballistic missiles), and 800 deployed and non-deployed
launchers by February 2018. President Obama announced in June his intent to negotiate additional
reductions with Russia that would go beyond the New START-defined inventories by up
to one-third. (Haney's responses to advance questions)